Koinange's firstborn son loses bid to appeal Sh30b estate ruling

Koinange family’s Sh30b inheritance battle suffers another legal setback. [Courtesy]

Former Minister Mbiyu Koinange’s eldest son, David Njunu, has lost yet another bid to challenge the High Court judgment that paved the way for the distribution of Sh30 billion wealth that had been in court for the last 45 years.

Njunu, who wanted the Court of Appeal to allow him to challenge Justice Aggrey Muchelule’s (now a Court of Appeal Judge) verdict, claimed that some of the wealth, including prime properties located in Lavington Muthangari, Kileleshwa, Muthaiga, Thirlestine (New Kiambaa Rima) and Dagoretti Karandini (Dagoretti Corner), had not been distributed and were allegedly transferred to third parties.

However, Justice Jessie Lesiit dismissed his application, finding that he ought to have moved back to the Family Court to disclose the alleged discoveries, not the Court of Appeal.

“The procedure for rectifying the alleged omission and/or error on the face of the record lies in the Succession Cause where the alleged errors or omissions were made. It is a process clearly spelt out in the Law of Succession Act and the Probate and Administration Rules. Without stating more, I think it is enough to declare the application materially defective and is for striking out, which I hereby do,” ruled Justice Lesiit.

Njunu had, in 2023, filed yet another application seeking to suspend Justice Muchelule’s judgment on the basis that he did not get the lion’s share of the wealth as the firstborn son.

Justice Eric Ogola threw the plea out, saying that the law treats both male and female children as equal.

"This succession dispute has been one of the longest-running in the judiciary, and a reference point whenever a delay in the administration of Justice is discussed. What is not appreciated is that most of the cases involving rich polygamous Kenyans who die without a will have followed a similar pattern. Lengthy and complicated litigation attracting many advocates and less intention on the part of the parties to bring the matter to an end," said Justice Muchelule.

Deep anger was the sole reason why former Koinange’s family could not end the succession wars.

Justice Muchelule noted that the relationship between the family members is too toxic such that the cases are not ending even after the court distributed the estate last year.

According to the judge, despite the family members knowing how much they will get as inheritance, they still want to fight.

“I note that this whole case showed me that there was so much anger in this family.  The main reason why this dispute took this long to resolve was because of the animosity that exists in the family.  So that, if Barbara Wambui Koinange and Lennah Wanjiku Koinange do not see eye to eye, it is not peculiar to them,” the judge observed.

The patriarch had four wives: Loise Njeri Mbiyu, Ruth Damaris Wambui Mbiyu, Margaret Njeri Mbiyu and Eddah Wanjiru Mbiyu. Njeri and Ruth died in 1966 and 2010, respectively.  Each of the two left children.

After 40 years of fighting, the court appointed Njunu (representing the first house), David Waiganjo Koinange (representing the second house), Margaret Njeri Mbiyu (representing the third house), and Eddah Wanjiru Mbiyu (representing the fourth house).

However, Waiganjo died last year on September 10. His son’s widow, Joyce Njeri and his only surviving sister, Wanjiku, sought to have the latter be the administrator to represent the second house.

According to the court record, all the members of the second house supported the application to have Wanjiku as the administrator, save for her niece Barbara Wanjiku Koinange, who accused her of treating her as a stranger in the family.

She explained that she does not believe her aunt will transfer what she is entitled to.

Barbara’s application was supported by Eddah and Njunu, who accused Wanjiku of illegally obtaining money from third parties in respect of Closeburn Estate using the claim that she owns the Estate.  Secondly, she allegedly committed fraud against the estate by transferring 80 acres of Closeburn Estate to herself.

Lastly, the trio argued there was a ruling delivered on 19th November 2009 which determined that she was not suitable to administer the estate.

Wanjiku defended herself, saying the dispute between the family members had been settled and she had been found by the court to have transferred 35.85 acres without the court’s authority and had returned the parcel. She also admitted that she had sold some two acres of Closeburn Estate to Monicah and which she promised she would cede once she got her share.

According to her, she was not the only one who had meddled with the late minister’s estate.

The judge ruled that the other houses could not determine who the administrator of the second house would be. On Barbara’s objection, he said that she knows how much she will get and Wanjiku will be held to account for anything she does that is against the court order.

“The good news is that the estate has now been shared, and Barbara Wambui Koinange knows what is due to her.  The administrators have a statutory responsibility to make sure she gets her stated share.  The law commands that the administrators will ultimately account to the court if they fail in this responsibility. In conclusion, I allow the two applications and appoint Lennah Wanjiku Koinange alias Lennah Catherine Koinange to replace the late David Waiganjo Koinange as the administrator representing the 2nd house in the estate of the deceased Mbiyu Koinange,” he ruled.

The late minister, who served in Jomo Kenyatta’s government for 16 years, passed away on September 3, 1981. His widows and 18 children have tussled over his estate now estimated to be close to Sh17.4 billion for close to four decades.

Nearly all the judges in the High Court and Court of Appeal, save for those recently recruited, have in one way or another dealt with the succession case. So have those who went home by either retirement or by being dismissed by the Judges and Magistrates Vetting Board.

The case was also at one point heard by former Deputy Chief Justice Kalpana Rawal. It is among the most unique and epic succession cases in Kenya’s history, as more than 50 parallel cases have been filed since the initial case moved to the corridors of justice.

For nearly 40 years, since succession suit No. 527 was filed in court in 1981 to resolve the distribution of the properties to the beneficiaries of the powerful minister, the slow wheels of justice have tried to grind on who should get a share of what.

It is also one of the cases in which several lawyers, who were representing the feuding parties in court, have made a lot of money.

Chief Justice Martha Koome, when she sat as a High Court judge, described the long-drawn war among the Koinange kin and their lawyers as an endless show.

 “I am sorry to state that, going through this court file and the tactics employed by the parties and their advocates, the case can only be likened to the classical theatre of the absurd,” Justice Koome said in her ruling dated January 28, 2005.

She added: “It is a shame that 24 years after the death, there seems to be no end in sight. Numerous applications and consent orders have been recorded but very little progress has been made towards the distribution of the estate to the beneficiaries.”

Justice Harold Platt was first appointed an interim administrator of the estate on November 13, 1981. The estate battle has been a circus that has drawn politicians and lawyers into an abyss of blame.